1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electronic apparatus and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly relates to the removal of operating heat from the interior of an electronic device such as a computer.
2. Description of Related Art
Various electronic components used in computers, such as microprocessors, generate heat during their normal operation. If not removed from the heat-generating component, the heat raises the device temperature to a level that degrades the reliability and service life of the device, and may also adversely affect nearby components as well. This problem has become more acute in recent years due to the increasing power and speed of microprocessors, and other electronic components, accompanied by correspondingly greater heat generation.
One proposed heat dissipation solution has been to place one or more cooling fans in the computer housing and use the fan(s) to create a flow of cooling air through the housing which receives at least a portion of the component operating heat and discharges it to ambient air surrounding the computer housing. The placement of one or more cooling fans in a computer housing, however, often undesirably takes up space therein which may already be at a premium for desirable computer equipment such as CD ROM drives, multiple floppy drives, larger hard drives and the like in the housing.
An even more pressing design problem in highly compact computers, such as notebook and subnotebook computers, is that there may simply not be room for a separate cooling fan to remove component operating heat, and the designer must rely on radiation and natural convection from the exterior surface of the computer housing to remove such heat. This approach is limited, of course, by two factorsxe2x80x94(1) the maximum exterior surface area of the computer housing available for such radiant and convective operating heat dissipation, and (2) the maximum temperature to which the exterior housing surface can be permitted to rise during computer operation before the housing, to the user of the computer, becomes objectionably hot to the touch.
As can readily be seen from the foregoing, a need exists, representatively in conjunction with a computer housing, for at least an auxiliary source of forced air cooling which does not occupy substantial housing space beyond that occupied by the various computer components therein. It is to this need that the present invention is directed.
In carrying out principles of the present invention, in accordance with a preferred embodiment thereof, a specially designed data-carrying member drive structure is disposed in a housing portion of an electronic device, representatively the CPU housing portion of a notebook computer. According to a key aspect of the invention, the data-carrying member drive structure is operative, during its rotation of an associated data-carrying member, representatively a data storage disc member such as a compact disc or a digital video disc (DVD), to create a cooling flow of air within the housing portion without requiring appreciable additional interior housing space for a separate cooling fan.
From a broad perspective, the drive structure includes a carrying structure for supporting the data storage disc; a drive mechanism for rotating the carrying structure, and its supported data storage disc, about a rotational axis; and blade members disposed on the carrying structure and operative to create the cooling flow of air in response to rotation of the carrying structure. The data storage disc drive structure of the present invention is accordingly provided, in a compact space-saving manner, with integral forced air cooling capability.
In two representative embodiments of the drive structure the cooling flow of air created thereby is directed generally parallel to the drive""s rotational axis, and in a third representative embodiment of the drive structure the cooling flow of air created thereby is directed generally transversely to such rotational axis.
In the first representative axial air flow embodiment of the drive structure, the carrying structure is generally disc-shaped and has a central circular portion for supporting the data storage disc, and an annular peripheral portion positioned to outwardly circumscribe the supported data storage disc. The blade members are carried on the annular, peripheral portion and are operative to force the cooling flow of air generally axially through the annular peripheral portion in response to driven rotation of the carrying structure.
The carrying structure in the second axial air flow embodiment of the data storage disc drive structure includes a hollow cylindrical hub portion coaxially receivable in the central opening in the data storage disc and having open opposite ends. The blade members are carried within the hollow hub portion and are operative to force the cooling flow of air axially therethrough, from one of the open hub ends to the opposite open end thereof, in response to driven rotation of the carrying structure.
In the third representative embodiment of the data storage disc drive structure, the carrying structure includes a generally disc-shaped carrying member having a side upon which the data storage disc may be coaxially supported for driven rotation therewith, and a periphery circumscribing the rotational axis. The blade members are mounted on the carrying structure periphery, and the drive structure further comprises a stationary guide structure outwardly circumscribing the periphery of the carrying member.
The guide structure has an air inlet passage extending generally radially into the carrying member periphery, and an air outlet passage circumferentially spaced apart from the air inlet passage around the carrying member periphery and extending generally radially outwardly therefrom. The blade members are operative to sequentially draw air into the air inlet passage and then force the air outwardly through the air outlet passage in response to driven rotation of the carrying member about the drive""s rotational axis.
As will be appreciated by those of skill in this particular art, principles of this invention, in addition to being useable in conjunction with compact discs and digital video discs, could also be advantageously utilized in conjunction with the operative rotation of other types of data-carrying members, such as the disc portions of floppy and hard drives, by engaging the data-carrying member with a rotating drive structure, and using a portion of the rotating drive structure to interact with adjacent air and create a cooling air flow therefrom.